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THE FRENCH Socialist Party is the equivalent of the Labour Party in Britain. One of its councillors has found a novel way of increasing his expenses. Claude Barral sits on the board of the Gard tourist department in the south of France. He is also a member of the Interdepartmental Coastal Anti-Mosquito Alliance (EID).

OVER 5,000 firefighters and control room staff marched in Glasgow on Monday as part of the Britain-wide campaign over pay. It was a brilliantly colourful and noisy protest with big delegations from London, Yorkshire, Cornwall, Ireland and many other places. Many of those present said that it was "not like a trade union demo-it was more like the sort of thing they do in Europe".

JOURNALISTS at the Mirror-owned Newcastle Chronicle and Journal planned their first day's strike action for this Thursday in a dispute over pay. Another strike is scheduled for next Thursday. The strike is the latest in a wave of action on regional newspapers across Britain.

OVER 350 tanker drivers who work for P&O Trans European are considering a new pay offer. It was put forward at the last moment to halt a planned three-day strike. The drivers deliver petrol and other fuels under contract for Shell. An extended stoppage would see petrol stations running out of supplies. Pickets were gathering at 13 depots across Britain as news came though that the strike had been called off.

JOHN TYNDALL, the Nazi British National Party ex-FŸhrer, wants to come to Burnley to spread his lies. He has been invited by the local BNP, which conned its way into securing three seats on the local council in the May elections. The BNP Nazis in Burnley pretend that they aren't racist.

THOUSANDS OF anti-capitalists, socialists and trade unionists from Britain and across the world gathered in central London last week for Marxism 2002. Marxism is an annual event hosted by the Socialist Workers Party. It includes a wide variety of meetings and speakers discussing the alternative to capitalism and the kind of movement we need.

AN OLD slogan in anti-racist movements in Britain is "we're over here because you were over there". Rozina Visram shows how true that is. From the beginning, Asian migration to Britain is entwined with the way Britain established and built its empire. Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter for trade to the Governor and Company of Merchants of London in 1600, founding the East India Company. And it was the company's ventures which sparked the first movement of people between South Asia and Britain.

WORKERS AT West Ferry printers in east London were in a confident mood this week after winning a 2 percent pay increase. The giant plant prints a large section of Britain's national newspapers, including the Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, Express and more.

AROUND 100 people attended an excellent meeting called by a Cambridge peace group which took place last Friday night. The meeting, entitled "Middle East crisis-what should Britain do?", was addressed by George Galloway MP and Cambridge academic Dominic Jenkin.

"BRITISH GOVERNMENT officials are laying secret plans to push a major programme of new nuclear power stations." These shocking revelations are in New Scientist magazine this week just as the cost of clearing up Britain's existing nuclear waste has soared to £48 billion.

WE ARE going to help the US arm Israel. That was the message from the government this week. New Labour caused outrage by admitting it is bypassing its own arms embargo on Israel by selling military equipment via the US. Vital component parts for US F-16 fighter jets, which are used against the Palestinian people, are made in Britain.

STEEL WORKERS employed by AvestaPolarit face an attack on their pension fund. The move comes after giant steel company Corus sold its shares in AvestaPolarit to the Finnish firm Outokumpu. The pension scheme dates back to the days of the nationalised British Steel company. It is a final salary pension that is more secure than the stakeholder pensions that are gambled on the stockmarket.